Efficient Electrochemical Detection of Lethal Environmental Pollutant Hydroquinone Based on Functionalized Carbon Black/Polytyramine/Gold Nanoparticles Nanocomposite

Abstract

An efficient detection of lethal environment pollutants via the simple and sensitive analytical method has drawn the central importance. In this work, the cotton flower like structured gold nanoparticle decorated functionalized carbon black/polytyramine (f-CB-PTy-Au) ternary nanocomposite was synthesized via the sonochemical synthesis method. The strong covalent interaction between the hydroxyl and amine group from the f-CB and PTy enhances the polymerization. Besides, the flower shaped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) decorated on the surface of the f-CB-PTy via the non-covalent interaction. The structural properties of the f-CB-PTy-Au nanocomposite were probed by various spectrophotometric techniques. Then, the as-prepared nanocomposite was used to fabricate the electrochemical sensor for the amperometric determination of hazardous pollutant hydroquinone (HQ). Outstandingly, the proposed sensor demonstrated the wide linear response ranges from 0.006 μM to 2400 μM and the lowest LOD value around 0.1 nM was achieved. The favorable sensitivity of the proposed sensor was calculated about 3.423 μA μM−1 cm−2. Furthermore, the practical applicability was investigated in different water samples such as tap water, waste water and river water.